Ministers ignored advice on mass issue of Tamiflu

Vaccines against swine flu are being prepared and are due to be introduced in October

www.telegraph.co.uk

Advice against the widespread use of Tamiflu from the Government’s own expert panel on swine flu was ignored by ministers who feared a public backlash if the antiviral drugs were withheld, it has been claimed.

The independent panel, which was set up by the Department of Health, said that people with symptoms should take paracetamol and that mass prescriptions of Tamiflu would help the virus to develop resistance.

The controversy is likely to add to public concern following news that doctors were urged to be on the alert for a rare nerve disorder when a new vaccine against swine flu is introduced in October.

Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis and death, is linked to infections like flu, but it has also been suggested that a previous swine flu vaccine caused cases of the disease in America in the 1970s.

Antiviral drugs have been the core of the response to the H1N1 pandemic, but Professor Robert Dingwall, of the Committee on Ethical Aspects of Pandemic Influenza, told the Guardian there was serious concern about using the drugs on a large scale. Read full article…

Related posts:

1. Swine flu: TV presenter’s daughter ‘almost died’ after taking Tamiflu www.telegraph.co.uk Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, defended giving swine...
2. Tamiflu puts 600,000 at greater risk of a stroke www.dailymail.co.uk GPs have been put on alert over fears...
3. NHS swine flu hot line employing teenagers to diagnose virus and hand out Tamiflu www.telegraph.co.uk The NHS swine-flu hot line is employing 16-year-olds...
4. Oxford researchers warn against giving Tamiflu to children www.breakingnews.ie Children should not be given the anti-viral drug...
5. Swine flu taskforce’s links to vaccine giant: More than half the experts fighting the ‘pandemic’ have ties to drug firms By Fiona Macrae and Sophie Borland dailymail.co.uk More than...
6. The ‘false’ pandemic: Drug firms cashed in on scare over swine flu, claims Euro health chief dailymail.co.uk The swine flu outbreak was a ‘false pandemic’...
7. Swine flu jabs ready for testing US pharmaceutical firm Baxter International has announced completion of...
8. Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America www.dailymail.co.uk A warning that the new swine flu jab...
9. Pupils could be immunised against swine flu in schools www.telegraph.co.uk Every pupil in Britain could be immunised against...
10. Tamiflu-resistant strain of swine flu spreading www.guardian.co.uk Resistant strain discovered in Cardiff hospital, prompting concern...